Ironing machine



Dec. 15 1925- 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 15,1925. 1,565,368

T. E. HUNT IRONING MACHINE Filed Feb. 20, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I l/; \U F76 6 5y r f ms/97 M Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS E. HUNT, OI CHICAGO HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB TO QUAKEIB MANU- FAC'IUBING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

1301mm uacnnm.

' Application filed February so, 1022. Serial a. 531,714.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS E. HUNT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago Heights, in the county of Cook 5 and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ironing Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention is concerned with ironing machines, and resides in a novel construction of the shoe whereby I can make its 0 crating surface of a sheet of comparative y thin metal, and still have it hold its shape in spite of the tendency of the heat to warp it-away from the roll, this novel construction cheapening the cost while improving. the quality. p 7

To illustrate my invention, I annex hereto two sheets of drawings, in which the same refer'ence characters are used to designate identical parts in all the figures, of which,

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of an iromng machine employing m inventign; 1

Fig. 2 isasectiona view as seen 5 line 2 -2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail in section, on an enlarged scale and with parts broken away,- on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspectlve view of the shoe, with the sheet-metal heat deflector removed, but its position indicated in dotted lines;

Fig. 5 is a view of the under side of the shoe, with the retaining cover andthe heatinsulating material removed, on a much larger scale than Fig. 4; j

' Fig. 6- is a detail in section on the hue 6-6 of Fig. 5;

gig. 7 isa similar view, onthehne'll; an

'Fig. 8 is a view similar the same section line, but showing the iron adapted for heating it by gas, instead of, by

electricity, as in Figs. 5,6 and.7. 7

While my invention'may be ap to any type of ironing machine emp o a rotating roll, I have shown it as appli to the specific ironing'machine shown in my a lication for Patent No. 482,921, filed J y 7,1921, and in this machine I employ so a air of generally A shaped end frames 10,

w ich are connec by suitable spacing rods, and which have journaled in the upper endsthereof the 11,'which eo operates with the concave shoe 12, heated by the flame from. the burner 13, and ful-' crumed by means of a pair of swinging frames 14 to the end frames at 15. In use,

these rolls 11'have to be rotated, and for lower "end thereof and co-operating with thecross piece 19 of the frame 10. The armature aft 20 of the motor has secured upon its'outer end a belt pulley 21, which is con-.

nected by the belt 22 with a belt wheel 23, which is secured on the outer end of the worm shaft 24, suitabl journaled in bearngs carried by the and mg between said bearings a worm 25, which. meshes wlth. a worm gear 26 journaled on a stud shaft projecting outwardly from the and frame 10. The worm gear 26 has formed integrallytherewith or rigidly secured "thereto a sprocket connected by a sprocket c ain 28 with the rocket wheel 29 secured on the end of "the aft 30 to which the roll 11 is secured. It will be obvious that when poweris aplied to the motor, the latter rotates at a "gh speed, and the train of gearing shown and describes serves to rotate the roll 11 at the comparatively low speed needed in such machines. The novel mountin of the motor upon the under side of t is spring plate 17 serves the desirable functions of "reducing a simple and inex ensive mountnag and one in which there lS-IlO-ObjBClJlOII- a e vibration or noise, as that-is all taken also be noted that the general trend of the tplate 17 is such that the natural spring of eplate serves to keep the belt 22 taut,

if it has been properly adjusted to start, with, and if the belt contracts, the plate prevent any Irame 10, and havear 27, which is 1:511 by the spring action of the plate 17. It

1' temperature.

e iron,

as the pressure. varies, as well as t e quality 1 ofthe gas, andI provide an indicator'toshow if the iron too in which case more gas will be turned on; or if it is too hot, in which case it can be turned 011". To

this end, I employ the construction shown in Fig. 2, where 12 is the shoe, which is heated by the gas burner 13, preferably enclosed by the'sheet-lnetal casing 31 extending the length of and-adapted to be secured to the inner edges of the under side of the shoe. A sheet-metal shield 32 is also provided to deflect some of the heat from thc wooden feed-board 33, which is secured on the horizontal upper surface of the shoe-supporting brackets or end pieces 14' pivoted at 15. For the purpose of forming a simple and eflicient indication of the temperature of the shoe, I secure a pair of iron rods 34 in the castings 14, in the position shown in Fig 2, these rods beingaccurately adjusted in place by having their threaded outer ends passed through an unthreaded aperture 35 in the casting and secured in any desired adjustment by the nuts 36 threaded on the rod on both sides of the casting. The inner ends of these rods have slots therein in which is placed the needle 37, which has two apertures therein through which pass the two pins 38 passed through and secured in the ends of their respective rods 34. Upon the rounded upper edge ofthe shoe 12 or on the adjacent edge of the table 33, as may be preferred, I place the co-operating graduations or marks, which maybe either-a scale or words, such as Cold, Hot and Too hot as shown.

The operation of this feature of my invention is as follows:

. directly exposed to the heat, expands, and

as it'expands, the'end castings 14 are shoved apart. This results in the rods 34 being drawn apart, sothat the needle 37, which, when theiron is cold, stands in the position indicated in dotted line in F ig; 3, is swung to the left, and if the iron is of the right temperature, it stands at the word Hot,

or substantially so. In case the iron gets too hot, the continued expansion of the shoe draws the needle to the warning position Too hot. 'This construction furnishes a "very simple and very eflicient thermostatic indicator for the temperature of the shoe. The third feature of my invention is illustrated in Figs; 4 to 8, and is concerned with the construction of the shoe 12, the heat-transmitting portion of which consists of a plate of comparatively heavy sheet-steel bolts 41, while the other edge is secured to the flange 40 by the bolts 42.- The end castings 14 are provided with the horizontally The shoe 12, being extending flanges 43, which are curved to correspond to the convex side of the shoe, which is secured thereto by the bolts 44. The flange is preferably provided with the triangular brace portions 45 to give additiona] rigidity to the angle-shaped crosssection of the casting 14 at this point. The flange 43 is also provided with the pair of substantially rectangular recesses 46, which are provided for all irons, although they have a function only .where the iron is heated by electricity, as will be hereinafter described.

Where the iron is heated by gas, as illustrated in Figs. 2, 4 and 8, the truss rod 47 is located in the position best shown in Figs. 4 and 8, where it will be seen to extend throughapertures in the castings 14 outside of the sheet-metal casing 31, and-to be held firmly relative to said end castings 14 by the nuts 48 screwed on the ends thereof.

The action of this rod 47 is as follows: The plate 12, constituting the heat-transmitting portion of the shoe, is, as previously stated, composed of sheet metal and is much lighter in weight than the cast, shoes that have heretofore been employed in order to give the necessary rigidity to the shoe and prevent its warping under the action of heat. The tendency of this shoe without the rod 47, as I have found by experience, is to bow away a little from the roll 11 when it becomes heated, and while thisamount is not great, it is suflicient tointerfere with the thorough ironing of thin oods, and to prevent this difliculty, liegiploy the rod 47, as described, which, being f'urtherraway from the burners 13, and not having the flame directed thereon, is not heated to the same degree as the shoe 12, and consequently does not expand so much. The result of this rod becommg relatively shorter than the shoe 12 is that 1t tends to keep its edges of the casting 1 4 closer together than the upper edges to whichthe shoe 12'is attached, with the result that there is a tendency for the shoe 12 to bow in the opposite direction from that heretofore recited, i. e., toward the roll 11, instead of away from it. This action neutralizes the other tendency, andkeeps it either absolutely straight, or, if there is any variation, the bowing is toward the roll, which is not particularly objectionable, as the bulkof the ironing is done at the middle portion of the roll anyway. By the employment of this rod, I have found that I can get the desired'rigidity of the shoe and preyent its warping so as to interfere with the successful operation of the iron. In the construction for the electrically-heated shoe shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, instead of locating the rod 47 in the position shown in Fig. 8, I place the corresponding rod 47 inside of the cover 31, and asit is in this position closer to the sh0e12, anddoes not have so effective a pull as ,it does in the position farther away, illustrated in Fig. 8, I reinforce this action by screwing the short bolt 49 into the back of the shoe 12 at the center thereof, and preferably lock it in .position by the nut 50. The head of. the bolt 49 has a recess 51 therein, into which fits the rod 47, the bolt49 as thus arranged operating somewhat like the post of the ordinary king-- vided with the binding posts 53, to which the necessary conductors 54 are connected. The heating elements are held in place by the V sheet-metal-plate 55, which has the .cross section shown in F igsI 7 and 8,- and is adapted to hold the elements 52 firmly against the back of the shoe. This plate 55- ,is held by twoxor more screws 56 passed through apertures therein and threaded into the under side of the plate '12. In order to insulate the rod 47 from the heat of the elements 52, and .also to retain the heat in the shoe .on that side, I fill all the space within the cover 31 and surround the rod 47* with some heat-insulating'material 57, pref-- i erably mineral wool, the material being indicated somewhat diagrammatically by dots to prevent obscuring the mechanical details seen back of it. J I

( While I have herein shown and described my novel temperature indicator for the shoe, I do not herein claim the same, as it is covered in my divisional application. No. 590,228, filed September 25, 1922..

\Vhile I have shown and described my invention as embodied in the form which I at present consider best adapted'to carry out its purposes, it will be understood that it is capable of modifications, and that I do not desire to be limited in theinterpretation of the following claim except as may be necessitated by the state of the prior artf IVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

In an ironing machine, the combination with a metallic plate concaved on its outer surface to fit against a roll, of rigid end pieces secured to and entending from the end thereof, a rod connecting said end pieces, electric. heating elements disposed against the convex surface of the plate, means for holding the electric heating elements in lace, and heat-insulating material between t e electric heating elements and the rod, substantially as and for thepurpose'described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of February, 1922.

T HOMAS E. HUNT.- 

